General area pollution and possible effects on health

Wazen

Aloha everyone

I was walking through China Town Honolulu today,
a 30 mile drive away from my life-long home up in the mountains,
and came to again realize something about my body...

I cant handle pollution for $h!t.
Even in the relatively clean air of Hawaii's biggest city,
I started to choke up and had a hard time breathing around all the exhaust fumes, and crowds of people, etc..

Then I thought about my first trip into a real city: London.
On the fifth day there, after walking through 1000 years of city pollution,
I was sick as a dog, coughing up BLACK, and that was just the smog/dirt/grime/dust of the city air...It was something I never experienced in my life, and it took me (mostly my lungs) a few weeks to fully recover.
....
Coming from the countryside, the City pollution wasted me, coupled with crowds of people like I never seen..And this was in a western city!

So this has me really worried..
What am I too expect in cities like Delhi and others..

Do most people start coughing and sneezing up black?

I have 3 months minimum to experience life in India, alone, possibly longer, and I already feel like I may have to keep it to the less populated areas...

can anyone share any advice, experiences, etc... dealing with pollution in ANY place in India?

Motorcycl_Adventurer

I suggest you better check one of those 'western' cities first before you embark on a journey to India. The AIR pollution levels of Indian 'big' cities [like Delhi, Mumbai etc] are comparable to LA, NY, Chicago during a typical rush hour. But you have to worry about the NOISE pollution, dust-mud-slush thing in cities and towns. If you fall ill in NY, LA due to air pollution...then India should be a strict no..no..

I dont like requesting you to keep away from India...but you want to enjoy your 3month holiday and not look at some hospital ceiling.

It is entirely your call. You can even land here and check out life for about 5-10 days, if you dont get 'used to' it...then fly back home/someother-destination..or plan your trip through tier-2 and tier-3 towns.

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katyrafi

Would seem a terrible shame not to come to India tho Motorcycle Adventurer - surely it would be possible in 3 months to avoid the big cities and get out into the mountains or by the sea where the air is clean and good. India is a big place after all...

Personally I would plan my trip to only use big cities as brief and necessary stopovers on the way somewhere else.

It might even be worth considering some Aruyverdic treatment to see if it might help with your problem Wazen, there is a remarkable medicine called Pankajakasthuri for example which tastes disgusting but is extremely effective in clearing the lungs of cr-p and has even been shown to reduce the effects Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.....

Just some thoughts

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iwanttogoback

wazen
do you have any particular cities in mind? or are you still considering wandering around?

if you can't cope with pollution (and why should we really have to?) avoid ahmedabad like the plague. i spent ten days there and although i really enjoyed i was also sick and am convinced it was the pollution. the air is so thick with pollutants that you can see it clearly, particularly closer to the industrial areas. hayfever became a throat infection, another friend had some strange flu like ailment and a few of us spent the last few days wearing scarves over our faces because it seemed to feel better breathing that way.

i believe that delhi/ahmedabad compete for the title of most polluted city in india.

Wazen

I wouldent like to avoid India all togehter,
after all, im sure the country side is not only full of temples and wild life reserves, but also a lot of fresh air... What about places down south in Kerala?

Aruyverdic treatment is intriguing,
though this is not as much a "real" medical condition, as it is a simple allergic reaction to pollutants in the air, street-dust, and all the filth that comes with masses of people.

Im just used to the air of the rainforest, and my upbringing has me dependant on fresh mountain air.

I hear london is like NY,
though I think it was the masses of people that made me sick, and the pollution was the straw that broke this cammels back.

Iwanttogoback,
Im still planning my trip, but becaue I have 3 months to spend there, wandering around with a flexible plan seems like the best option so far After all, I may want to stay longer...

On that same note,
I have no plans in India, just to live it up and see it all...
So perhaps this is a good chance to learn abot places to go, and places to avoid...
As I plan my trip, I will thankfully turn to this thread for advice on select places of interest.
In the mean time,
Any help and advice you guys wish to share,
is always appreciated

Aloha

tstan

I first came to Sydney in 1977 and the air quality was much worse than it is now. Delhi in the winter of 2004 was a great improvement on 2001 and Los Angeles in 2002 was an awful lot better than 1970. Why should we accept the idea that things will always get worse with the passage of time?

Wazen

I take it India dosent have strict enviromental standards like the west, if thats true, which seems likely, then its worth noting.
Wasnt it Manali which recent tests showed horrible levels of very, very bad toxins, prevelent throughout the city...

About noise pollution,
In cities like Delhi,
do you find it hard to sleep,
even in 500-750r hotels?
Are majority of the buildings constructed with shallow/generic walls, that dont trap sound?


...I remember staying on the Damstratt(sp?) in Amsterdam, even with the sliding glass window, and thick walls, you could still hear the partying and shouting of the nightlife..

shanthi

In most of the medium to large sized Cities in India, many people walking, and more especially - people on cycles and motorcycles have cotton or plastic masks on in an attempt to keep from breathing in most of the awful traffic pollution! Even when in a car, and having to stop at the traffic lights the pollution seeps inside and can be overbearing at times.

Asthma is on the rise in India in the last ten years, especially amongst the younger population - children and babies suffer a lot with it. Chest problems are a matter of daily life in India, and are always made worse by the pollution.